Birthplace of Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong.

Single most influential mind in modern Chinese history.

Born December 26, 1893 in the farming community of Shaoshan 50 miles southwest of Changsha.

Our friends and co-workers took us on a half-day trip to Shaoshan last Sunday afternoon. We walked through Mao's home, viewed the room in which his mother bore him, the primary school where he studied classical Confucian thought, and a museum filled with a lifetime of Mao's personal items. Then we drove a bit more and hiked up a gentle mountain to Mao's secret retreat building, complete with bomb and earthquake shelter, and also the site of his grandfather's tomb.

Mao family home

Mao's mother was a devout Buddhist, his father a skeptic and farmer. A few siblings died young, two brothers survived to adulthood but were both killed in the revolution. Mao himself had four wives and an unknown number of children -- more than six.

Mao's primary school

Michael and our friend/co-worker

Do you recognize this infamous moment in world history?
The pronouncement of founding of the People's Republic of China
October 1st 1949 from Tian'anmen Gate

wedding locks

Mao's grandfather's tomb

According to our friend, the Nationalists attempted to desecrate Mao's grandfather's tomb during the Civil War (Nationalists v. Communists). For the traditional Chinese superstitious, desecrating an ancestor's tomb is a type of psychological and spiritual warfare, bringing down misfortune on living descendants. Apparently local peasants concealed and protected the tomb from the Nationalists, and it has since been relocated.

I'm struck by the disparity in histories regarding Mao Zedong. There is a particular thick biography of Mao Zedong, banned in China, claiming the true, unknown story of Mao. I found some of its arguments contrived and unfounded. From within China, I hear and read of a carefully constructed paragon Mao. I observe opposite, slanted histories and ponder how, if possible, to arrive at the truth.

counting the graces

thank you Father for

sleep, in ceiling fan breeze

a big room full of people we love, all in one accord

fat pillows